National

India announces Financial Support to Bhutan

• India will provide support of Rs 10,000 Cr to Bhutan over the next five years.
• PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Mother and Child Hospital, a state-of-the-art hospital in Thimphu, built with the assistance of the Government of India.

International

India and Mauritania

• 1st Foreign Office Consultations between India and Mauritania was held in Nouakchott.
• India and Mauritania share long-standing ties of friendship and collaboration.

SSN-AUKUS Submarines

• United States, United Kingdom and Australia have entered a new agreement to build Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines and termed it a significant milestone in the endeavour of defence cooperation.
• AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership designed to create a stronger, more resilient trilateral submarine industrial base, supporting submarine production and maintenance in all three countries.

Person in News

C.P. Radhakrishnan

• Jharkhand Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan has been sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry.

Mariam Mammen Mathew

• Mariam Mammen Mathew, CEO, Manorama Online, has been appointed chairperson of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) for two years.

Muhoozi Kainerugaba

• Uganda's veteran leader, Yoweri Museveni, has appointed his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba to head the country's defence forces.

Simon Harris

• Simon Harris is set to become Ireland’s youngest ever Prime Minister.

Awards & Honours

Order of the Druk Gyalpo

• King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck conferred Bhutan’s highest civilian award, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Thimpu.
• PM Modi is the first foreign leader to be given this prestigious award.

Miscellaneous

Shaheed Diwas

• Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs’ Day is observed in India on March 23 every year.
• It was on March 23, 1931, when freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, along with his associates Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, were hanged to death by the British.

World Water Day

• World Water Day is observed every year on 22nd of March, to honour the importance of freshwater.
• UN General Assembly designated March 22nd as World Water Day in 1993, following the recommendations of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Witches’ Broom

• The Scientists from Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University of Hisar have identified a new and potentially devastating disease affecting pea crops.
• Named “Witches’ Broom,” the disease is associated with the pathogen ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ (16SrI).
• American Phytopathological Society (APS), USA, which recognizes new diseases in plants, has accepted and published the report of this new disease by the scientists in its prestigious journal ‘Plant Disease’ as the first research report.

Radar Simulator

• Software Development Institute in Bengaluru has indigenously developed the Radar Simulator in just eight months and operationalized it at INS Hansa Naval Air station in Goa.
• The simulator is meant for the training of personnel at the training institutes.

World Forestry Day 

• World Forestry Day is observed on March 21 every year.
• March 21 was chosen as World Forestry Day by the United Nations as it coincides with Vernal Equinox and Autumn Equinox in northern and southern hemispheres.